


Broken Box

by Skippyin



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Personal Headcannon on how Battles work, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-20
Updated: 2015-10-20
Packaged: 2018-04-27 06:18:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,092
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5037124
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skippyin/pseuds/Skippyin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Frisk is nervous about his upcoming fight with Undyne, so he turned back to Snowdin to ask Papyrus for help. However what happens when Papyrus manages to break something important during their training session?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Broken Box

Frisk didn’t know what to do.

His stomach twisted into all sorts of terrible anxiety ridden knots as he quickly ran back to Snowdin. His brief encounter with the large intimidating person in a suit of armor (who was no doubt the brave Undyne so many monsters had been talking about), had made Frisk realize that he wasn’t ready to face the Captain of the Royal Guard. He needed some kind of plan. Some way to try to avoid fighting her. He was a pacifist after all! The thought of taking on Undyne; who was most definitely the type of person who stabbed first and asked questions later, made Frisk suddenly feel not so determined.  
The sound of snow crunching under his feet alerted the young boy that he was nearing the quaint little village. His eyes almost immediately locked onto the house he was looking for.  
If he was going to face Undyne, he needed a plan and training.  
And who better to ask for help than Papyrus?  
It made sense to Frisk. Papyrus had been training with Undyne for years in his attempts to get accepted into the Royal Guard. Meaning not only did he know how Undyne would attack, but he also knew Undyne on a more personal level. Maybe he even knew what Undyne liked! Then Frisk could get her a gift, and they wouldn’t have to fight. He silently nodded to himself, feeling that would be the best course of action. Appeal to her better side, and then she wouldn’t want to fight.

These positive thoughts brought back a little bit of Frisk’s determination. He knocked on the front door of the skeleton brothers’ house loudly. Hoping that they were home and not out in the woods like they had been earlier. Frisk breathed a quiet sigh of relief when Papyrus answered the door with a large grin.

“HUMAN, YOU HAVE RETURNED! COME IN MY SMALL FRIEND!” The tall skeleton exclaimed loudly as he swung the door open all the way to allow the small child access into his home. Frisk gave him a smile and nodded to him in greeting. Stepping out of the cold and into the warm house. Papyrus lead him over to the couch, having a seat on the opposite end after Frisk took a seat “WHAT BRINGS YOU BACK HERE? I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO GO ON AHEAD AND CONFRONT UNDYNE?”  
Frisk sighed a little, a few pangs of anxiety returning. He explained to Papyrus how he felt like he wasn’t ready to face the Head of the Royal Guard, and how he wanted Papyrus’ help to prepare for his inevitable encounter with the knight. This, like many other things, made Papyrus extremely excited.  
“Y-YOU WANT MY HELP?! Y-Y-YOU WANT ME TO…. TRAIN YOU?!” The skeleton’s eye sockets practically sparkled with pure bliss “YES!!!” He shouted as he sprang up from the couch and took a heroic pose “I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, SHALL TRAIN YOU MY LITTLE HUMAN FRIEND. SO YOU MAY SURVIVE UNDYNE’S RUTHLESS ATTACKS AND BECOME BEST FRIENDS WITH HER! COME! OUR TRAINING STARTS IMMEDIATELY!”  
Papyrus grabbed Frisk by the wrist and proceeded to drag the small human up to his bedroom for their rigorous training session. Frisk was set down on Papyrus’ racecar bed as the tall skeleton ran around the room collecting things they would need. Eventually, Papyrus had put together a “classroom” like setting. A cork-board was shoved up against the dresser, it had a quickly scribbled drawing of Undyne with a bunch of spears. Papyrus stood in front of the cork-board wielding a long bone. He smacked the bone against the picture, making Frisk jump a bit.  
“THIS,” He began “IS UNDYNE. SHE IS ONE OF THE UNDERGROUND’S STRONGEST FIGHTERS. SHE PREFERS TO SUMMON SPEARS TO ATTACK, LAUNCHING THEM AT HER OPPONENT! SO WHAT WE’RE GOING TO DO IS PRACTICE DODGING, BECAUSE LET’S FACE IT…” He trailed off and scratched the back of his skull “THERE’S NO WAY A SMALL HUMAN LIKE YOURSELF WILL BE ABLE TO ACTUALLY _FIGHT_ HER.”  
Frisk nodded, Papyrus was right. He was just a kid with no battle experience. So far he had gotten lucky, but there was no telling when that luck would run out. Papyrus dragged his box of bone attacks over and put his hands on his hips.  
“I AM GOING TO INITIATE A BATTLE, BUT DO NOT WORRY! THIS IS ONLY PRACTICE!”

Suddenly, the world around the two of them faded to black. Papyrus’ colors drained away to blacks and whites. Frisk felt his body fade away, painlessly breaking down until the only thing left was his SOUL. When this had first happened with Flowey, Frisk had been immensely scared. After all, everything and everyone suddenly seemed so big when he was nothing but a small red heart floating around in a box. It was scary knowing that the monsters held a large advantage in this aspect, they still had their bodies and magic when they initiated a battle with Frisk. However, Frisk was nothing more than a small defenseless floating spirit that could easily be hurt if he wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t nervous this time though. Papyrus was his friend and he knew that he wouldn’t hurt him on purpose.  
Papyrus brought his hands underneath the small box, lifting it up a little higher and adjusting the size a bit so it wasn’t practically constricting the little red soul inside. Once he felt that it was an appropriate size he allowed the box to float in the black void once more.  
“ALRIGHT HUMAN!” He addressed the little heart “IT IS TIME TO BEGIN PRACTICE! I WILL LAUNCH ONE OF MY NORMAL ATTACKS FOR YOU TO DODGE, THEN WE-WAIT.” Papyrus put a hand to his chin, his eyes narrowed and drifted to the side as he fell into deep thought “IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE FIGHTING UNDYNE THEN PERHAPS IT WOULD BE BEST TO TRY TO IMITATE HER FIGHTING STYLE…? THAT WAY YOU WILL BE MORE PREPARED! YES!!! WE’LL DO THAT! I DO NOT SEEM TO HAVE ANY SPEARS THOUGH, SO I’LL JUST THROW MY BONES. I WONDER IF THAT WILL WORK? I’VE NEVER REALLY THROWN THEM DIRECTLY BEFORE. OH WELL! NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT I SUPPOSE! NOW, DODGE THIS HUMAN!”  
Frisk got ready as he saw Papyrus summon a bone and throw it at the box like it was an actual spear. The little red heart veered to the left to dodge the bone, but-

CRASH

A sound resembling that of shattering glass startled Frisk and Papyrus. The two were shocked to see that the bone had not phased through the box like monster attacks normally did, but instead seemed to awkwardly get stuck in the wall. The two observed the white hairline cracks in the transparent surface of the box.  
“OOOOH THAT’S NOT GOOD.” Papyrus put a hand to his forehead and began to nervously sweat “UH, HUMAN ARE YOU ALRIGHT IN THERE?”  
The little red heart glowed brightly in response. Papyrus sighed in relief.  
“I AM NOT EXACTLY SURE WHAT HAPPENED, BUT WE SHOULD PROBABLY STOP TRAINING. I’LL STOP THE BATTLE I SUGGEST YOU DO THE SAME.” Papyrus instructed as he selected the SPARE option. Frisk copied him, however something seemed wrong. The black abyss around them disappeared and they were back in Papyrus’ bedroom. The tall skeleton had gone from monochrome to colorful yet again. However, something felt off to Frisk. It took him and Papyrus a moment to realize, he hadn’t changed back. The Box was still there, and Frisk was still just a SOUL. Now that they were no longer in that “Battle Mode” as Frisk liked to call it, gravity had returned and it took the box down with it.  
The little red soul roughly bounced against the walls of the box as it crashed down onto Papyrus’ bedroom floor, more cracks forming on the surface upon impact. Frisk shivered and his usual bright and cheery glow flickered dully. He wasn’t hurt, no, he was scared. This was new and everything about it felt _wrong_. He had never remained in soul form when a Battle ended. Now that he wasn’t surrounded by miles of darkness Frisk realized how small his soul really was compared to everything else, especially now that he was on the floor. Papyrus screamed and quickly scrambled over on his hands and knees. Frisk to backed up a little when he pressed his face directly against the Box’s surface.  
“HUMAN, ARE YOU OKAY? ARE YOU INJURED? WHY HAVE YOU NOT TURNED BACK?! IS SOMETHING WRONG? WHY IS YOUR SOUL GLOWING SO DIMLY? DID I HURT YOU? ARE YOU HUNGRY, IS THAT THE PROBLEM? MAYBE IF I-” Papyrus began ranting, obviously panicking. Somehow breaking the Box had made turning back into his true form impossible for Frisk. The little red heart floated closer to Papyrus. Frisk told Papyrus that he was alright, but he was scared and didn’t know what to do. This caused Papyrus to dawn his own determined face and pick up the box in his gloved hands “WORRY NOT! FOR I AM YOUR MENTOR, AND AS YOUR MENTOR IT IS MY RESPONSIBILITY TO FIX MY MISTAKE! SOON I WILL HAVE YOU FREE AND IN YOUR PHYSICAL FORM ONCE AGAIN! I JUST HAVE TO-UGH!” Papyrus grabbed the bone sticking out of the Box and pulled hard, trying to dislodge the offending femur. He tried using his other hand, but didn’t get much luck either.  
Frisk watched as Papyrus shifted and adjusted himself and the Box into multiple positions in an attempt to free the bone and by extension Frisk. However, nothing seemed to be working.  
Papyrus’ current position had the Box held between his thighs as he pulled on it with both hands. Unfortunately his legs didn’t have a tight grip and this only accomplished in flinging the Box across the room and against the far wall, creating even more cracks. Before Papyrus could think of another way to try to pull the bone out, a loud knocking came at his bedroom door. The taller skeleton opened the door to reveal his shorter and lazier brother, Sans.

“hey bro, i heard a big crash. what’s going o-ah!”  
Papyrus pulled Sans into his room and slammed the bedroom door behind him. He dragged his brother to the other side of the room, rapidly explaining what he did wrong so fast that Frisk would be amazed if Sans had understood anything in his panicked rant.

“-AND I REALLY DIDN’T MEAN TO AND NOW IT’S BADLY BROKEN. PLEASE HELP ME FIX IT!” Papyrus finished, making a gesture to the Box which had been abandoned on the floor. The little red heart floated closer to their direction and greeted Sans with Frisk’s small voice.  
Sans stood there for a moment, staring at the Box then at his brother and then back to the Box. Eventually, he sighed and picked up the box gently; not wanting any more cracks to form. If the box was to break completely, then Frisk would be in some serious trouble, but he didn’t voice this fact to prevent his brother and the kid from freaking out.  
“don’t worry kid.” Sans said in a soothing tone when he noticed the heart’s glow dim a little bit “we’ll have you out of there and back in your physical form faster than you can say “hot dogs””  
“HOT DOGS.” Papyrus stated as he followed Sans out of his bedroom and down the stairs “SANS HE IS NOT BACK TO HIS NORMAL HUMAN SHAPE.”  
Sans just laughed and gently pat the top of the box in an attempt to soothe the little soul inside “ok it might take a little bit longer than that, but don’t worry about it okay? you don’t have to worry about anything with me and pap looking out for ya.”

Eventually, they were able to dislodge the bone. Once that was done they just had to wait a few hours for the box to regenerate itself and eventually disappear on it’s own. It wasn’t the most pleasant time for Frisk, but Papyrus and Sans had done their best to make the wait a little more comfortable for their friend.  
When Frisk regained his physical form, the first thing he did was hug both skeletons and thank them for their help.  
The three of them learned a very important lesson that day. The Box may be nearly indestructible, but it apparently could not withstand a bone being flung directly at it.


End file.
